1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an authentication system which is applied in a case where an image forming apparatus is used.
2. Description of the Related Art
In recent years, as security consciousness increases in an office, security for a multifunction machine which serves as an information input/output unit is required.
Here, by using an IC card for user authentication and an authentication server, it is possible to make use of a mechanism of logging in to the multifunction machine based on a user ID tied to card information corresponding to the IC card, thereby enabling to obtain a secure output environment.
Incidentally, Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2009-065288 discloses a system in which a user name and a password used when a user logged in to a multifunction machine with a user ID are stored as cache data in the multifunction machine, and, in a case where communication with an authentication server cannot be performed due to a communication error or the like, the user can log in to the multifunction machine by using the stored cache data.